IRELAND.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 April 1920, Page 5

IRELAND.

A CRAVE SITUATION. SEVERAL PRISONERS DYING. REMOVAL TO NURSING HOMES. By Telegraph.—Press Asjn.—Copyright, Received April 10, 7.40 p.m. London, April 14. There is some doubt at present as to the extent of the concession to the .Sinn Feiners. The authority for the Exchange Telegraph Agency's announcement is a speech to the crowd outside the prison by a man giving the Lord Mayor's word for it. The Lord Mayor had been previously summoned to ViceRegal Lodge. Another version has it that Lord French pronounced he was leaving the matter in the hands of the prison doctors. Consequently many hunger strikers will be released forthwith, as they are either in a state of collapse or bordering thereon. One collapsed prisoner was released this afternoon. The situation in the prison was of the gravest in the afternoon, deaths being expected any moment. Four were unlikely to live, and the remainder were in the last stages of exhaustion. MILITARY WITHDRAWN. It is significant that simultaneously with Lord French's summons to the Lord Mayor, the military were withdrawn from the precincts of the prison. A priest appeared at four o'clock and requested the crowd to allow a passage between the prison and the hospital; also not to make any demonstration, as the men were. in the weakest condition.

The prison authorities summoned an ambulance corps, and the prison gates were thrown wide open/ and the people allowed freely to enter. Irish volunteers kept order, police and troops being invisible.

Several shipping lines have ceased services between Ireland and Britain owing to a stoppage of transport in Ireland. MORE TERRORISM. An exciting incident occurred in Galway, where strikers held up a butcher's cart conveying military rations. Three lorries and a, tank were quicklv on the scene, and the strikers dispersed before levelled rifles. Sergeant Lavin was found shot dead in the Dublin police depot. The Customs offices in Dundalk were burned down. The incendiaries used petrol. A strike picket boarded a passenger train arriving at Castle Blayney, and ordered the driver and the stoker to leave the engine. The picket then drew the fires.

Strikers at Carrickmascross prevented postmen from delivering mails. In the absence of an official statement, the position at Mount Joy Prison, even at a late hour to-night, remains obscure, but prisoners have already been moved who needed urgent medical atThey have been paroled for a specified period in order to enter an ordinary hospital, but most of them were taken to private nursing homes.— Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

GOVERNMENT'S POLICY. THE CONDITIONS OP RELEASE, STATEMENT IN THE COMMONS. Received April 16, 2.15 p.m. London, April 15. In the House of Commons, Mr. Bonar Law read a message from Lord French, stating that, following precedent, Alderman O'Brien, who was arrested on suspicion of implication in a conspiracy to murder loyal servants of the Crown in Ireland, and who hunger struck in prison, was sent to a nursing home. The Governor of Mount Joy prison, Dublin, was authorised to liberate prisoners awaiting trial or deportation whom doctors certified to be in imminent danger of death and requiring treatment, which could not tie given in the prison. Accordingly, sixty-six prisoners were released on parole for periods differing according to the particulars of each ease. Owing to a mistake of the prison authorities, some of these sixty-six were convicted prisoners serving sentences, who were in no-wise entitled to release on parole. He emphasised that this was not to form a precedent. The whole action taken in regard to hunger striking was based on the decision with regard to ameliorative treatment. He denied there was any change in the Government's attitude, and the same course was followed in the case of O'Brien. The Government would be only too glad to change Irish policy if the conditions changed, but it must take every precaution to protect life.—lmperial Service.

SINN FEIN IN POSTER, •BRITISH PRESTIGE LOST. Received April 17, 1.20 a.m. London, April 18. The Daily News states Sir Xevil Macready told Lord French on his arrival that he must be given a clear field in his new position, and at the same time a free hand in army administration. The Belfast News Letter, commenting on the releases, sa~s by this surrender Sinn Fein has gained in authority what the Government has lost from its failure to assert the law. It has abandoned law-abiding people to the horrors of Irish rebels. The Northern Whig declares that outside Unionist Leister, the Government of Ireland lies in the hands of Sinn Fein. The last surrender is the most calamitous of all the mistakes and blunders marking Irish history. The Irish News characterises it as the greatest climb down in the century.— United Service. DAWN OF NEW POLICY. LORD FRENCH MAY RESIGN. Received April IG, 3.10 p.m. London, April 15. The Daily Mail states the release of tjie hunger strikers marks thj beginning of an entire change of policy, the first signs of which were the appointments of Sir Hamar Greenwood and fair Nevil Macready. The Premier gave Sir Nevil'Macready a free hand to initiate a conciliatory regime. The resignation of'Loid French is pmr ejqjeete4-—United. ,S«vi«n